2 Long and Short

How Far Apart are the Dots?

D
I K
C
O
B
M
A F
J
L
N
G
E
H

★ Guess the distance between any two dots.

How many centimetres is it? Now measure it
with the help of a scale. Did you guess right?
★ Which two dots do you think are farthest
from each other? Check your answer.
★ Which two dots are nearest to each other?
Check your answer.

Children can play this game in pairs, making dots on a plain sheet and asking their partner to
guess the distance. This can also be extended to estimating bigger distances on the floor.
The border of this chapter should also be used as a scale.

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The Shorter Line
Akbar was a famous king. He had a smart minister called Birbal.
Once Akbar gave him a difficult question. He drew a line on
the floor.
Birbal, here is a line.
Make it shorter
without erasing.

Now your line

is shorter.

Akbar's line

Birbal's line

Look at the picture and explain how Birbal made Akbar's line
shorter.
Now can you be as smart as Birbal? Make his line shorter without
erasing it. Just think — is there any longest line?

Try This
★ Make her right arm 1 cm longer than the left arm.

★ Draw a cup 1 cm shorter than this cup.

★ Draw a broom half as long as this broom.

★ Draw another hair of double the length.

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How Tall Have You Grown?
Do you remember that in Class 3 you measured your height?
Do you think you have grown taller?
How much? ____________ (cm)
Have your friends also grown taller?
Find out and fill the table below.

Friend's Last year's This year's How many cm

name height (in cm) height (in cm) have they grown?

Jhumpa once read a list of the tallest people in the

world. One of them was 272 cm tall! That is just
double of Jhumpa's height. How tall is Jhumpa?
__________ cm.
Wow! His height
is exactly double
my height.
Imagine
★ Could that person pass through the door
of your classroom without bending?
★ Will his head touch the roof of your
house if he stands straight?

The Long and Short of Your Family!

★ Who is the tallest in your family? _____
★ Who is the shortest in your family? _____
★ What is the difference between their
heights? _____
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 Inter-School Sports Meet
Race
This is a 100 metre race for girls. Arundhati is nearest the
finishing line. She is about 6 metres from it.
Behind her is Rehana. Konkana and Uma are running behind
Rehana. Look at the picture. To answer the questions below
choose from these distances:
– 3 metres
– 6 metres
– 10 metres
– 15 metres

6 metres
Rehana

a) How far is Rehana from Arundhati? __________

b) How far ahead is Rehana from Konkana and Uma? __________
c) How far are Konkana and Uma from the finishing line? _______

Have you heard about a 1500 m or 3000 m race? (You remember

that 1000 metres make 1 kilometre and 500 metres make half a
kilometre.)
★ So you can say —
In a 1500 metres race people run ______ km
In a 3000 metres race people run ______ km

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Have you heard about marathon races in which people have to
run about 40 kilometres? People run marathons on roads
because the track of a stadium is only 400 metres.
10 rounds of a stadium track = _______ km
So, if you run a marathon on a stadium track, you will have to
complete __________ rounds !

Long Jump
This is the long jump for boys.

Dhanu has the longest jump of 3 metres 40 cm. Gurjeet is

second. His jump is 20 cm less than Dhanu's. Gopi comes third.
His jump is only 5 cm less than Gurjeet's jump.
★ How long are Gurjeet's and Gopi's jumps?
________________________________________________________

★ Try and see how far you can jump.

★ How far can you throw a ball? ___________ metres.
★ Look for a big ball, like a football or volleyball. How far can you
kick it? ___________

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Here are the Indian Records and World Records for some jumps.
Sports World Record Indian Record

High Jump (Men) Javier S. (2m 45 cm) Chandra Pal (2m 17 cm)

Long Jump (Men) Mike P. (8m 95 cm) Amrit Pal (8m 8 cm)

High Jump (Women) Stefka K. (2m 9 cm) Bobby A. (1m 91 cm)

Long Jump (Women) Galina C. (7m 52 cm) Anju G. (6m 83 cm)

Find out from the table —

1. How many centimetres more should Chandra Pal jump to
equal the Men's World Record for high jump?
2. How many centimetres higher should Bobby A. jump to reach
2 metres?
Remember that 1m = 100 cm
Half metre = ?
3. Galina's long jump is nearly
a) 7 metres
b) 7 and a half metres
c) 8 metres
4. Look at the Women's World Records. What is the difference
between the longest jump and the highest jump?
5. If Mike P. could jump ______ centimetres longer, his jump
would be full 9 metres.
6. Whose high jump is very close to two and half metres?
a) Stefka K.
b) Chandra Pal
c) Javier S.
d) Bobby A.

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Running Exercise 500 m
The doctor has told Devi Prasad
to run 2 km every day to stay fit.
He took one round of this field.

500 m

500 m
How far did he run?
Field
The field was very far from his
home. So he chose a park nearby.
The boundary of the park was
about 400 metres long.
★ How many rounds of the park 400 m
500 m
must Devi Prasad run to
Park
complete 2 km?

★ One day the weather was very good and a cool breeze was
blowing. He felt so good that he kept jogging till he got tired
after 8 rounds. That day he ran _______ km and _________
metres !

How Many Rooms High?

The Qutab Minar is 72 metres
high.
About how many metres high is
your classroom?
Guess how many rooms, one on
top of the other, will be equal to
the Qutab Minar. ______________

Explain how you made a guess.

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From Kozhikode to Thalassery
Subodh is going to Kozhikode which is 24 kilometres (km) away.
Manjani is going to Thalassery which is 46 km away in the
opposite direction.
How far is Kozhikode from Thalassery? ________________

Kozhikode (24 km)

Thalassery (46 km)

How Far is Your Home from School?

Momun comes to school from very far. He first walks about
400 metres to the pond. With slippers in his hands, he then
walks 150 metres through the pond. Next he runs across the
350 metres wide green field. Then he carefully crosses the
40 metres wide road to reach his school.

How much does Momun walk every day to reach school? _______
Is it more than 1 km? _______
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★ Find out how far your friends live from school and fill the table.
Write in metres or kilometres.

Friend's name Distance of home

from school

Who among you lives nearest to the school? ___________

Who lives farthest from the school? ___________
How many children live less than 1 kilometre away from your
school? ____________
Is there anyone who lives more than 5 km away from the school?
How do they come to school? __________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Guess and Find Out

1. How long is the thread in a reel?
2. How long is the string of a kite reel? Can it be more than a
kilometre long?
3. If a handkerchief is made out of a single thread, how long
would that thread be?

Children will get a good idea of 1 kilometre distance if it is possible to take them for a 1 km
walk, preferably along a straight path.

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I Wish I Were !

I wish I were a kite

So that I could rise
Above this building's height.

I wish I were a bird

So that I could fly
And reach above that kite.

I wish I were a cloud

So that I could move
Above those little birds.

I wish I were a plane

So that I could rise
Above the clouds and the hills.

Try to find out:

1. Which is the highest building that you have seen? About how
many rooms high was it?
2. How high can a kite go? Can it go higher than the Qutab
Minar?
3. How high can a plane fly? Can it fly higher than Mount Everest
which is about 9 km high?
4. Have you ever seen clouds below you?
It would be useful here to discuss about children's experiences, particularly when talking
about clouds and their height, so that they get an intuitive feel of relative heights, and can
begin to estimate large distances.

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